Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-03-10
WRECKED IN A WASHOUT.

road, the Result of q Washout Caused b,
ehe Recent Heavy Rains-One and Per
maps Two Lives, LOst-MiraculousE scap,
OF the Rest of the Imperiled Passengers
ST. LOUIS March IA serious wreck
caused by washout, occurred at Joachim
! creek, on the Iron Mountain railroad Sat
urday night, by which two persons los
their lives and several were more or les:
seriously injured.
The dead We're: Henry Byr ron, aged
ABOUT thirty years, an unmarried resident
! OF De Soto. Mo-, and an unknown man
whose body was carried away in the rush
ing waters of the creek, which caused the
washOut and the accident.
The injured, so far as ascertained, were
| as follows:
Valto Altmeyer, Columbus, O.; serious
Commissions about the head and body.
Antonio Patella, Italy, laborer, passen
ger for Texarkana; Commissions about the
face, head and lower limbs.
Frank Burns, st. Louis, one of the bag.
gage-masters; slight cut in the face.
Lou Kelley, engineer; severe Commissions
about the face and body and toes of left
foot crushed and badly bruised.
Frank Hatch, De Soto. fireman; several
painful Commissions of the back and body
}. H. Baldwin, jamestown, N Y; cut in
hand and wrist.
j. II. Titcomb, San Jose, Cal: left hand
cut
s. P. Beck, Point Burnside, KY; con-
tusions about head and face.
William Fontaine, news agent on the
train; Commissions about the head and
face.
The body of Mr.. Byron was found in the
smoking-car after the water had subsidized.
He had been drowned and was not
bruised Or mutilated in any way. The
body was allowed to remain in the coach
until three o'clock in the afternoon of yes.
terday, when it was taken to De Soto and
given in charge of the company's under
body was not recovered, it supposedly
having been washed away in the flood.
Those persons injured were given the
neces sary medical attention, and some OF
them were brought to st. Louis and sent
to the Missouri Pacific hospital for treat.
ment.
HERO OF THE WRECK:
p 81. Fitzgerald, one of the passengers,
said: 81 am conductor, formerly from
the New York & New England railroad,
but for the past two years and half have
been conductor on the st. Louis, Iron
Mountain & Southern railroad. Twas on
my way home from st. Louis to Bismarck,
where I reside. just before we ran
on the trestle 1 was sitting
in seat talking with Joe Guion, the con-
ductor of the train, and George Herbert,
conductor of the local freight, who was
going home to spend Sunday, after taking
his run into st. Louis Saturday evening.
We were talking about the high water,
and Herbert said it would be wonder if
we did not have some wrecks tonight.
He had only finished saying this when the
shock came, and Guion said: we have
q 70 mo
Goodbye, Fitz,' and we shook hands and
parted to save ourselves as best we could
AS soon as l saw the water we started
back through the car. All the other pas
sengers had left their seats in wild confu-
sion, and when I found I could not pass
along the aisle climbed over the backs of
the seats and called out: Break out the
windows and go out at the side.' kicked
out a window when the water was up to
my waist and climbed on the window sill,
but could not reach to climb on top, until
Conductor Guion, who had followed the
same course of action, had succeeded in
reaching the top Of the car because
he was taller and could reach the ventila-
tory gave me his assistance. then heard
Herbert call my name from the end of the
car which was deepest in the water, say
ing; 'Fitz, for Gods sake, help me outr
/ succeeded in getting him on top, and he
then held my hand while pulled up three
others from the same car, and some one
else helped me pull up two more from that
side.
We then went to the other side, where
we rescued four more in the same way.
There were twelve of US on the top of the
car, and we were fifty feet from land.
The water must have been at least ten feet
deep. Conductor Guion and I consulted
what we should do. I asked him If he
could swim and he only said: It's bad
case'
I took off all my heavy clothes three
times to swim out but others said wait.
Guion asked: Can you get to shore,
FitzF and l answered, Yes; I can make
It, Finally when the car commenced to
roll and swing down with the current as
and, before doing so, we shook hands and
said good bye He jumped and I fol-
lowed him. Guion caught limb of a
tree and succeeded in climbing into the
tree and got from there to shore. / did
not catch the tree but went down with
the current some distance and succeeded
in swimming to shore. 1t was broken
and very rapid current. 1 was fol-
lowed by Conductor Herbert and pas
senger. Herbert caught in the tree and
the passenger. followed me to shore.
w
the car by throwing the rope to
Herbert in the tree and he threw it to the
car where it was made fast. We first sent
an axe over the rope to the car and cut
hole in the top of the car. All the passen-
gers were landed by this rope and raft,
which was made afterward, except one
man, who was drowned in the car and
who is the only one positively
known to have persisted. AS
soon as we got to the top of the car we
called to those at the rear of the tram to
go back and flag the Belmont train, which
was following close, and | saw the brake
man go back. After we got the passen-
gers off the top of the smoker, the brake
man came to me and said Engineer Kelley
and his fireman, Hatch, were down the
stream on tree. He had heard them call
ing when he came in after fiaggi ng No.
605. We got ladder from a farm house
and tied plank to the ladder and
L swan with it and brought the fireman
in from among some bushes, and after
ward made seven different attempts, and
finally succeeded with the assistance of
another man, whose name do not know,
but he is the section foreman at Hema-
tite,) in rescuing passenger named
Beck, who was lodged in tree. About
this time assistance came from DeSoto,
and the work of rescuing those in danger.
Commissioners Chosen.
Boston. March IA W ashington special
to the Herald says that it is understood
that the President has definitely deter
mined upon three of the Interstate Com
merce Commissioners, and they have all
signified their willingness to accent